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1975 murder of Greenville County deputy and father under review after new evidence surfaces

For decades, a box of documents sat in a disused locker at the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center, its contents shut off from the world by a thin metal door and an old lock.

That changed earlier this year when Greenville police went through the locker room, cutting the padlocks, and stumbled on the cache of papers.

Tucked in the stack was a letter that has cast doubt on a conviction in the 1975 murder of a Greenville County deputy and his father, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller told the Greenville Public Safety Citizen Review Board in July.

That letter could implicate the sheriff in office at the time of the killings, as well as members of his team, in the decades-old slayings, Miller said.

Police are also analyzing a gun in relation to the double homicide, a department spokesman said.

Charles Wakefield was convicted of two counts of murder in 1976 in the deaths of Frank Looper, Greenvillle County's head narcotics investigator, and his father, Rufus. The two men were shot to death in the garage adjoining their Greenville home.

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Greenville County deputy Frank Looper and his father were shot to death in 1975 in the garage of their Pendleton Street home.(Photo: The Greenville News archives)

Wakefield, who spent 34 years in prison before receiving parole in 2010, has maintained that he's innocent since his arrest in 1975.

The letter, sent to late Sheriff Cash Williams by a woman he appears to have been having an affair with, suggests Williams and his team were involved in the Looper murders and in framing Wakefield, Miller is heard telling the board in an audio recording of the July meeting.

"There was a letter from one who said that he (Williams) and some of his team members may have been involved in that murder and framed this individual (Wakefield)," Miller said.

Miller asked the North Carolina Center of Actual Innocence, a nonprofit dedicated to exonerating people convicted of crimes they did not commit, to work with Greenville police in reviewing the case.

"I don't know where it will go," Miller told the board in July. "It may result in the decision that the conviction is the conviction. It may result in our ability to identify that something else took place."

Department spokesman Donnie Porter also confirmed Nov. 1 that investigators obtained a firearm Oct. 31 that is being analyzed in relation to those murders, but no direct connection has been made.

He said no further details on the gun were available.

The developments were first reported by the Murder Etc. podcast, a now 24-episode investigative report examining the Looper murders, as well as the subsequent investigation, trial and conviction of Wakefield.

The podcast, produced by former WYFF investigative reporter Brad Willis, also delves into the tangled criminal network that prevailed in Greenville County during the 1970s, which included deputies and former deputies at the time involved in violent crime.

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Brad Willis, creator of the Murder Etc. podcast, poses for a portrait in his home Thursday, Nov. 6, 2019. The 24-episode investigative report produced byÊ examining the Looper murders, and subsequent investigation, trial and conviction of Charles Wakefield.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

In the audio, Miller said the validity of the information in the letter is being reviewed, but the fact it was never included in the investigative file is cause for concern.

"It is still possible that this information is bogus, that this information has nothing to do with anything other than a lovers' spat, if you will," he said. "But there is nothing in the case file that suggests that this letter was ever submitted and vetted, which is a big concern and a big red flag."

It's unclear who used the locker the letter was found in and who put it there, Miller said during the meeting.

Conor Hughes is a public safety reporter with The Greenville News. Contact him via email at chughes@gannett.com or on Twitter @ConorJHughes.